Boys vs Girls
by kemiro-wolf
Summary: What started off as a simple competition of Boys versus Girls turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse when the team members get stuck in a mansion with something that is causing them to disappear one by one. No OCs, no yaoi; human AU.
1. Chapter One

_'Let's enter this sweepstakes, he said. It will be fun, he said.'_

The thing was Alfred's fault.  
The whole thing.  
It was _all_ his fault.

"Why did I even listen to you," Matthew Williams sighed as he propped his arm up on the sill of the open car window as he waited for his brother to finish loading his last suitcase into the back of his shiny, blue , and brand-spakin'-new 2014 Honda Civic Tourer. Alfred practically slammed down the hatch and for a second, Matthew was concerned that he'd break the car -which he only had for _a day_. However, he clearly saw that his brother did not share the same feelings since he got into the driver's seat with a huge smile on his face.  
He took one look at Matthew and playfully jabbed him in the shoulder; the other hadn't meant to be so rough, that was just how Alfred was, but pain from the punch instantly traveled up Matthew's arm from the impact sight and into his brain, causing him to grunt and grab his arm with his right hand. He shot Alfred a look before his brother chimed in with, "Aw, don't look so down, Martin. It's just for four weeks, I mean, how bad can _that_ be?" Matthew opened up his mouth to say something pertaining to Alfred calling him by the wrong name -something that happened all too often- but shrugged instead, agreeing with Alfred. "It can't be that bad, I guess," he admitted.  
The "_it_" that they were speaking of was a sweepstakes for the first season of a reality television show called "_Battle of the Sexes_" that Alfred had won. He seen the advertisement in the Sunday paper and informed Matthew about it; the sweepstakes was an amped up version of Boys versus Girls.  
Fourteen guys and fourteen girls were to enter a supposedly "haunted mansion" called The Candle House, located in the town over and live with each other for twenty-eight days. All the while, the guy team and the girl team would have to prank each other. There would be cameras all around the house recording what happened and, first, it would go through the owners of the game then be broadcast to the public; once out in the media, watchers were able to send in votes to see which team had the better pranks.  
The teams _had_ to work together if they wanted to stay in; since the show's owners were recording everything that went on, they were able to show the audience which teammate hadn't been a good sport and, of course, that particular person would possible receive negative responses from the people watching, thus becoming a liable candidate subject to being voted off the show.  
Lastly, whoever either had the most teammates left or had a higher score at the end of the show, they were awarded $200,000.  
All in all, Matthew thought that the whole thing was entirely all too cheesy, knowing full well that it was only meant to make couples among the contestants and get them together in order to boost the ratings of the show. Though the thought of participating in this challenge made Matthew want to gag and he rejected his brother's requests to join him, since each member who won had to bring a partner along, but after a few more "pretty please with sugar on tops", Matthew gave in. He knew he'd regret it later on, however. He told himself not to a sourpuss over it; there was a chance that the Boys' team would win and his and Alfred's relationship was in need of some brotherly bonding. So, twenty-eight day? He could make it.  
"So, we ready to go, Mickey?"  
Matthew snapped out of his stupor by the name and thought, '_Oh mon Dieu, Alfred. Really?__ That one's not even close to my_ name.'  
He looked over at Alfred with that goofy grin everyone loved plastered on his face, blissfully oblivious that he had used yet another wrong name to address his brother. "You...know that's not my name," Matthew said slowly. He cocked en eyebrow a bit accusingly at the other man's embarrassed face as he gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, yeah. Of course I know that's not your name," he said. "I mean, how can I forget my own _brother's_ name, Marcus?"  
Matthew immediately face-palmed. "Ouais. Let's go."  
He braced himself by gripping the armrest as Alfred punched his foot down the accelerator and made the car jerk forward and down the driveway. The vehicle barreled down the gravel-covered drive and pulled out onto the black asphalt of the street and Matthew could barely hear himself screaming, "Alfred Jones slow down! Slow down! _Slow down!_" over his brother's loud and obnoxious laughter and roaring announcement that went along the lines of, "Candle House, here we come!" The blond at the wheel only let out a whooping holler as he kept increasing his speed and skidded around a right turn.

* * *

Five hours had passed, and Matthew was half dozing off and half fiddling with the map he had bought for the trip. He had forgotten the Alfred's car was equipped with GPS and there was really no reason for him to even bother looking at the paper guide now, so he idly tossed it back and forward from hand to hand. "How many more hours until we get there, eh?" he asked and looked up at the man behind the wheel, who answered with, "Three more."  
A tired groan passed by Matthew's lips and he sunk deeper into his seat.  
'_Why did I agree to this again?_,' he asked himself, turning his head over to look out the passenger side window. '_Because you really cannot say no, can you?_'  
As the scenery passed by in a blur of colors and shapes, Matthew felt his eyelids growing heavy. He had a good fight with himself, falling asleep after a couple of minutes of forcing his eyelids to stay open.

* * *

"Hey, Mattie! We're here!"  
Matthew let out a shriek that was so not girlish and instinctively jumped at the booming voice in his ear. He forgot that the seatbelt was still strapped across his chest, so that didn't help him out much; as soon as his body lurched forward, the seatbelt locked and caused him to abruptly jerk backward. He hit his back hard on the seat he was sitting in and took a few moments to steady his shaky gasps of air. "Alfred!" he snapped rather angrily, "What was that for?" His voice had soften down to its natural tone as he said this.  
Beside him, Matthew's brother pointed his thumb out the open window, toward a large three-story mansion with a wrought iron fence surrounding it; the fence had already been open in order to allow the contestants through with no trouble at all. Matthew saw that there were already thirteen cars parked across the ginormous paved driveway of The Candle House. Some of the vehicles' passengers were standing outside of their cars, chatting amongst each other, or walking around and checking out the mansion. One white-haired passenger in particular caught Matthew's attention as he tapped the blond standing beside him on the shoulder and pointed to the mansion's front porch. After the other paused to shake his head "_no_" and went back to talk with whoever was in the car he had previously been leaning on. The white-haired man let out an annoyed groan, but the other guy remained unfazed. He turned toward the blue Honda. Matthew flinched and sunk lower in his seat, thinking, '_Please don't notice me, please don't notice me, please don't notice me._' His prayers were not answered and the other man smirked devilishly. He had spotted him. The man raised a hand in the air to wave and yelled out, "Well look who's here!". This caused everyone else to put whatever they were doing on hold and turn their attention to Alfred and Matthew's car. Some of them had happy looks on their faces, some shook their heads as if to say an unheard "_Tsk, tsk, tsk_", and the rest showed off their own wicked smiles. Matthew felt his cheeks flush out of embarrassment. He knew it; as soon as he had saw all of those cars parked in front of The Candle House, he knew it; Alfred's timing was all wrong, again, and they had arrived late. By the looks of things, a few _hours_ late.  
"_Birdie!_ It's great to see you!" Matthew reluctantly looked up to see the white-haired man approaching his open window, that smirk still playing on his pale lips. "Hey...Gilbert," was the reply. "And can you please not call me Birdie?" he added in a hushed voice so that his brother wouldn't-  
"Birdie? That's what everyone's been calling you? _That's_ the nickname they gave you?" Alfred questioned before he started laughing loudly.  
Hear. '_Merveilleux_.'  
Outside of the car, Gilbert laid his arm across the window and nodded. "Yep, that is what everyone's been calling him." His red-violet eyes looked down at Matthew's reddened face. Gilbert snickered. He had been the one to start that terrible nickname for Alfred's younger brother during the beginning of the school year. Matthew used to hang out with Gilbert often, more often than he did nowadays, and whenever he was around Gilbert, there'd be a small yellow bird perched atop of Matthew's head. Gilbert thought it would be fun to make a silly nickname for his friend about his new pet bird (Matthew always corrected him, though, saying that the bird flew over to him from _Gilbert's_ head. He had no idea what Matthew was talking about; he was allergic to birds, so why would he have one tagging along with him?). At first, the "nickname" stayed between Gilbert and Matthew, but it suddenly spread through the school and everyone else was making fun of Matthew Williams by calling him "Birdie." The blond had begged Gilbert to get everyone to stop, but the albino only told him to "stop being a little pussy"; the other guys "were just having some fun." After it came apparent that his friend wasn't going to put an end to the name-calling, and Matthew had no luck either, he distant himself from Gilbert, doing so just a little bit at a time. Gilbert soon found out and pretty much stopped talking to Matthew, only speaking with him when he had his group to back him up.  
"So anyway," the albino said and turned to Alfred. "What took you guys so long? Don't tell me you were doing _something_ in the _bathroom_-"  
"No, Gilbert, Alfred just got the time mixed up. That's it." Matthew was quick to jump in. That was another thing that Gilbert had accidently started yet refused to stop; "Birdie" sounded so girly that everyone began to think that Alfred's younger brother was a homosexual, or a bisexual with a preference for men...anything that wasn't straight and involved a sexual attraction to males. And to top their theories off, Alfred had proudly told the students that, even if Matthew had never been with a girl a day in his life and even if they had roomed together for as long as he could remember, that didn't mean he was gay. Matthew knew Alfred was just trying to help, but he only succeeded in making his brother's young life oh so _much more worse_.  
Gilbert's red eyes sparkled with what one could only describe as mischief before shrugging. "Sure. Whatever you say." He turned and walked back to where the blond-haired man was standing, his arms folded across his black muscle shirt. He and Gilbert exchanged a few words before the albino reached into his pocket, pulled out his cellphone and shoved it into the other man's hands. He then practically skipped merrily up the mansion's stairs and posed in front of the door. That was when Matthew noticed that there was a large statue of Chimera-like creature sitting on top of a grey pedestal; the mouth of the lion's head was opened wide, showing off two rows of stoney fangs. Gilbert saw these and yelled, "Guys! Get a load of this!" He leaned over and jutted his head into the jaws of the sculpture, laughing as he did so. "Take the picture, take the picture!" he chanted. At the base of the stairs, the blond sighed. He pointed the phone's camera at Gilbert and snapped a few pictures. A girl stepped out from the passenger side of the car Ludwig had been leaning on before Gilbert wanted to take pictures. Opening the door, she reached in to pull out a small green suitcase; she placed that on the ground and pulled out another suitcase identical to the first one. As she was unpacking, Matthew watched from the security of the car. She wasn't familiar to him.  
Not familiar, but very beautiful.  
From where he was, he could tell that had flawless skin, slightly curly blond hair that was cut a few inches above her shoulders, and big green eyes. Matthew saw a ribbon in her hair, the same color as her suitcases, and immediately decided that green was her favorite color.  
He must have been staring because he hadn't realized that Alfred had already exited the car and had unpacked all of their stuff. When Matthew happened to see his form out of the corner of his eye, Alfred had walked up to his side of the car. "She's really pretty, isn't she?" he asked and all his brother could do was nod. "If I remember correctly, her name's Laura," Alfred continued. "She's pretty much new to the school and this country. She came all the way from Belgium! Anyway I think she transfered to my Chemistry class last Tuesday." He leaned against the car and looked down at Matthew with a beaming smile on his face, blue eyes widening as he came to realization of something. Alfred snapped his fingers and jumped into Matthew's line of sight, causing his brother to utter a "Hey!", but Alfred waved him off. "Oh yeah, I just remembered that me and Laura are lab partners. I can introduce her to you if ya want!"  
"N-no, Alfred, that won't be-"  
"Hold tight, bro! I'll be right back. Hey! Laura!" The more obnoxious of the siblings turned and sped off toward the ribbon-wearing girl. Matthew blinked in utter amazement of the speed his brother was capable of reaching. "Necessary..."  
"Laura, hey!" Alfred greeted once he was near her. The girl looked over her shoulder to see the athlete approaching her with a friendly smile on his face. "Oh. Hallo, Alfred," she kindly replied back. "Do you need something?" A man with spiky light brown hair came around the other side of the car, a smoking pipe in his mouth and two heavy suitcases in both of his hands. "Laura, is this the last of your stuff?" he asked rather gruffly then his green eyes locked onto Alfred.  
"W-well, I was wondering, y'know...if you do something for me?" he said slowly stuttered, a sudden wave of nervousness washing over him due to the man's piercing green eyes trained on him. Laura cocked her her head to the side before follow Alfred's gaze up to her brother. Her lips curled up into a cat-like grin. "I don't think I've introduced you two. Alfred, this is my older brother, Govert. Govert, this is Alfred. He's my _lab partner _in _Chemistry class._," she said, putting emphasis on "lab partner" and "chemistry class" due to the judging look in her brother's eyes. She rolled her eyes at him then noticed her bags he had in his hands. "Just put those over there with my other ones," she ordered and turned back to the guy in front of her. "Okay, Alfred. What do you need me to do?" She gasped when Alfred suddenly grabbed her hand and started pulling her over to his car. "I wanna introduce you to my brother, Matthew," he said and when they both reached the car, Matthew was no where to be found. "Mattie? Where are you?" Laura stood back as Alfred ducked into the passenger side window, searching for his missing brother. "Hm. He was _just_ here..."  
Hiding on the other side of the car, Matthew swallowed hard and braced his back further against the Honda. He scolded himself for hiding -'_What is wrong with you? She's just a girl. Oh my god, Matthew, if the others see what's going on, they're going to think you're gay for sure!_'- and also took time to pity himself- '_She's never going to want to talk to you. I mean look at you! Cowering behind a car that's not even your own..._'  
He inhaled deeply before getting off the car and walking around the back of it. "Uh, h-hey," he cleared his throat, "Hi, Alfred."  
Across from him, his brother pulled out of the window and smiled really big. "There you are, Matthew! Hey, this is Laura. You know, my lab partner I told you about." He stood off to the side and pointed his hands at her as if she were the main attraction at a grand opening. "Laura, this is Matthew. Matthew, this is Laura. You guys say hi or somethin'. Oh, hey, did I mention that she was my lab partner in Chemistry?"  
Matthew bit his lip. "Um..._bonjour_...Laura," he said slowly and nervously readjusted his glasses on his face. The girl gave a short wave before returning the greeting and Matthew looked up. "You know French?" '_No, duh. She did come from Belgium; they speak French over there, too._'  
"Mhm. Do you know, Francis Bonnefoy?" Matthew nodded and Alfred laughed loudly. "Ha! Who doesn't know that perverted Frenchy?" Over where the rest of the contestants were, someone sneezed.  
"Oh, come on. He's not really that bad," Laura laughed.  
"Yeah, right," was Alfred's response; he stopped laughing and asked, "So what about him?"  
"Well he's my older cousin. We've only known each other for a few months now, but he's been teaching me French ever since we found out we were related. Govert doesn't like him, even if we are family...now that I think about it, my brother really doesn't like anyone..."  
A scream from Gilbert sliced through the summer air and everyone turned to see that he had been hit with the front door. At the bottom of the stairs, everyone was laughing, but Ludwig was trying to stifle his. Gilbert quickly shot down the stairs, snatching his phone from his brother's grasp in the process; Gilbert angrily glared down at the screen while saying, "You didn't get that, did you? Tell me you stopped recording before that _unawesome_ thing happened to me."  
In the doorway stood a slightly overweight, balding man dressed in faded blue jeans and a white T-shirt that had "_Battle of the Sexes_" as its logo. His eyes were wide as he watched Gilbert fly down the stairs. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized and Gilbert glared daggers at him; still clutching the phone with one hand, he pointed a finger at the man. "You should watch where you're opening doors at, _old man!_"  
"You should watch where you're standing at, _kid_."  
"Look, guys. They're already getting off on a good start," Laura snickered.  
"We already know he's screwed," Alfred smirked. He, Matthew, and Laura watched the events unfold from where they stood by the car.  
"Anyway," the man turned his attention back to the rest of the contestants. "I am Arnold Logan, producer of "_Battle of the Sexes._" I want to welcome all you to the show," he said. Everyone nodded a few "thank yous" arose from the crowd. "Anyway, you all can come on inside and set your stuff down. The rooms have already been set up; beds, mattresses, things like that."  
Everyone who had did the smart thing and unpacked their belongings as soon as they arrived followed behind Mr. Logan, bags in hand, up the stairs and he held the door open for them as they entered. "C'mon, Mattie, let's go!" Alfred said. He grabbed all of the bags -save for two of Matthew's- and ran after the group. "Alfred, wait up!" Matthew grabbed his remaining bags and was about to run off when he remembered that Laura was still with him. He turned to her and she said, "Well, I guess I'll see you later?"  
"Oui. But, uh, you do know that after this we're going to have to be sworn enemies, right?" he asked her. Laura gave a little laugh to that. "Yeah, but who said we can't be friends just because the Boys' team won the cash prize and the Girls' team didn't?"  
"Hey, don't go around assuming who's going to win and who's going to loose just yet," Matthew replied, "For we know, the guys could loose. I mean, we _do_ have Alfred on our team." He smiled when Laura giggled. "Aw, come one, don't talk about your brother like that! He's a really nice guy, and though he's a bit..." She pondered over the right choice of words before continues with, "_Loud_, but I'm sure he means well." She looked up when Govert called her name in a rather irritated tone and she sighed. "Guess I should get going now before my brother throws a fit over lifting my bags. He's subject to just leave them there. See you later." With that, she gave a quick wave once her name was called again, followed by, "_Come on_," and she quickly went to meet her brother at the car. Matthew watched as she picked up her bags and followed Govert into the house.  
"Guess I'll get going, too," he said to himself and walked forward to join the last two stragglers as they made their way to the house. He noticed that Mr. Logan was no longer standing at the door. '_I guess they were talking too long_.'  
Matthew recognized the last two people as Vladimir Funar and Lovino Vargas; the latter was the twin brother to Feliciano Vargas and was claimed as Antonio Carriedo's best friend. Lovino always begged to differ. The other straggler was a Romanian foreign exchange student who was the source of the school's most popular rumor. Other students claimed that Vladimir was a vampire because he came from Transylvania, had red eyes and long fangs, and he sounded "like Count Dracula" when he spoke. While Lovino did not have many true friends because of his fiery attitude, Vladimir didn't have many friends because everyone shunned him and believed that he'd suck their blood once he had the chance. Matthew couldn't believe that his fellow students thought that. '_They are always too quick to judge others._' As far as he knew, both Romano and Vladimir were pretty cool guys; he had only spoken to the exchange student a few times in the past and was surprised when he told Matthew to just address him as "Vlad." Lovino on the other hand, it was a bit...tough talking to him, but the Italian wasn't as rude with him as he was with every other guy in the school.  
Vladimir had long since passed by Lovino and had carried his stuff into the house, while Lovino was too busy _dragging_ his large luggage along the driveway. Just then, Antonio poked his head out of the door to check on his friend and when he saw Lovino struggling with his bag, he walked out and leaned onto the porch railing. "Lovino, do you need any help carrying that into the house? It seems pretty heavy."  
Right at the end of his sentence, the curl in the center of Lovino's head went distraught, and he looked up and shouted, "This is the fifth time you asked me that!_ I can handle bringing my own luggage into the house, bastardo!_"  
The Italian went back to tugging at his bag and Antonio was about to go down to help him, but decided against it. He saw Matthew looking at his friend with a slightly worried expression as if he was scared that Lovino would eventually pull a muscle while trying to get something far too heavy to move fast. "If Lovino says that he can handle it, then Lovino can handle it," he said nonchalantly to Matthew and retreated back into the house. Matthew didn't get it. How could you stay so calm when your so-called "best friend" called you out of your name in front of others? He knew he more than likely wouldn't say anything at all, but there'd be some sort of anger bubbling up on the inside. Antonio, however, didn't seem fazed in the least. The way their friendship functioned would always be a mystery to Matthew.

* * *

Matthew had already put his luggage down and went back out to aid the Italian. It took a bit of convincing and a few moments of "Pleas just let me help you," before Lovino Vargas allowed Matthew to help him bring his bag into the house. Together, they managed to get the heavy bag up the stairs and into the front room of the mansion, which was the sitting area. Well, it was one of the Candle House's sitting areas; the other two were in the back of the house and upstairs.  
"Took you guys long enough," Gilbert sneered as he approached them. He pushed the bag with his foot and whistled. "Whoa, other favorite Italian, you're going to have one _hell_ of a time bringing this thing _upstairs! Where all of the rooms are located! _Did you know you had to go up two flights of _stairs__?_"  
"I am not your "other favorite Italian," potato bastard number two! And shut up already! I _know _I have to bring my bag upstairs; so, if you are not going to help, then _get out the way!_" Lovino spat and shoved Gilbert away from his bag."Matthew help me bring this thing upstairs."  
He couldn't say "no", he could only say "yes."  
Matthew sighed and approached the the end of the suitcase that was facing him, but froze when a high-pitched shriek reverberate off the walls of the nearly empty mansion. Eyes wide, he glanced over to see Lovino with a questioning look on his face and Gilbert who was frozen in surprise.  
"Did you guys," he started.  
"Hear that?" Lovino said.  
Gilbert swallowed. "Ja," he aid quietly replied.  
All three of them burst into action and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time up to the second story floor. They thundered around a corner and kept running toward the direction where the scream had came from. Another cry pierced the air and the trio homed in on the room they heard it come from. Without hesitation, Gilbert raised his leg and violently kicked down the door. Lovino and Matthew ran up behind him and what they saw shocked them.  
There, on the bed were twin sisters Feliciana and Lovina Vargas...  
Jumping up and down. Lovina, however, did not seem to be enjoying herself, the boys could tell from her narrowed green eyes and the constant jerking of her arms as she tried to free her hands from the death-grip of her twin. "Feliciana, I _know_ you like the place, but let me go already! I don't want to jump up and down on the bed like a little girl anymore! Feliciana, are you listening?!"  
Of course she wasn't. The brunette kept bouncing up and down on the bed, sentences pouring from her mouth at one-hundred miles per hour; "Oh my gosh! I _love_ this room! Oh my gosh, I _love_ this bedside window! Oh my gosh, I _love_ how this chair and this closest door match! Speaking of which, I _love_ the walk-in closet! I _love, love, love _this house!" She giggled like a madman and continued jumping up and down on the mattress.  
Matthew, Lovino, and Gilbert stood in the doorway with their mouths hanging open. "We ran all the way here all because she liked the _interior design?_"

* * *

A/N: Ooooh, I _suck_ at time skips; I just skip two lines and but a break ;_;  
Hey guys. I made up this story all of a sudden yesterday while putting two plot ideas together. Originally, Canada wasn't going to have a love interest, because Germany and Belgium were going to be a pair, but I sided against it when I realized that CanBel, or BelCan...whichever on you wanna call it, was an extremely rare ship and I _really_ wanted to try it out. And thus a cheesy first time romance between the Canadian and the Belgian begins!  
God, I'm really cheesy and lame when it comes to writing romance (see why I don't write straight up romance stories at all?)  
Yeah, and there's no yaoi or yuri in this story, sorry not sorry. I just really did not want to have yaoi or yuri couples in this one, even though it could help me make up some more crack parings (kemmi, you're being selfish again) but I honestly wasn't feeling it ._.  
This chapter is poorly written in my eyes; I have too many repeats, repeats, _repeats_. I _hate_ being redundant on accident. Ugh. When I _want_ to be redundant, my work turns out just fine. Ugh.  
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it so far, and I know the plot of the story is a bit cliché and cheesy, but trust me, that will all change in later chapters. Also, I might be bumping this fanficion's rating up to Mature due to what's to come in later chapters. And for you guys who are reading my other story, _Doggy Days_, that one will have an update tomorrow; it'll be a one chapter update, I'm sorry. But if I could write two consecutive chapters in one day without getting distracted with other things, then I would. But I can't so I shan't ;_; Also to my _Doggy Days_ readers, if you catch any references to that story in here, just know that I did those intentionally *wiggles eyebrows*  
Okay, so go read, or review, or follow (or you could do all three of these, please...?) and thanks for reading ^^


	2. Chapter Two

"_We ran all the way here all because she liked the interior design?_"

The two girls jumping on the bed heard someone's voice, and Feliciana looked over toward the doorway. A smile made its way to her face. "Ciao Lovino and company! Look, Lovina, Lovi's brought some friends!" she sang.

"Who're your friends?" was her twin's question as she eyed Matthew and Gilbert suspiciously. Even though she and Feliciana were quite familiar with the Italian brothers, they didn't know their friends all too well; sure they knew Lovino's brother, Feliciano, Antonio, and they knew Ludwig. And that was about it.

Lovina's green eyes narrowed even further. "Who are they?" she repeated and watched Lovino shrug and push his way up to the front. "They're just Matthew and Gilbert." He pointed a thumb at the albino beside him. "You know, Ludwig's older brother?"

Lovina scoffed. "If you're his brother, then why do you two look so different?" the female Italian asked in an accusing manner as if it was Gilbert's fault that he was _different_ from his younger brother.

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?" Gilbert half yelled half asked; he gritted his teeth and narrowed his own eyes at her. In his mind he vowed that he would only address this _"Lovina"_ as "bitchy Italian woman."

"You two look nothing alike."

"So!" Gilbert retorted and took a step forward, then another; he soon figured that since Lovina was still being held by her sister, it was safe to venture ahead. The albino man then began to lumber over toward the bed and behind him, Matthew had a look of worry on his face. He tapped Lovino on the shoulder to get his attention and asked, "Shouldn't we stop him? I mean, he could actually hurt her..."

"She was asking for it," Lovino replied, his tone very nonchalant as he watched as Lovina jerked out of her twin's grasp and she and Gilbert began to exchange _very_ fiery words.

Before the fight could get heated anymore and words of violence were exchanged for physical contact, the sounds of stampeding footsteps came from down the hallway; Matthew and Lovino turned around to see some more of the contestants -if not all of them; about five or six people- lead by Mr. Logan. Everyone either had, confused, shocked or worried expressions on their faces. From what Matthew could see, Alfred was the only one who looked amused.

"I heard screaming. What is going on here?" Mr. Logan asked, his voice louder than Gilbert and Lovina's. The two of them stopped what they were doing and turned to face the crowd. As if on cue, both the albino and the Italian pointed accusing fingers at one another and spoke at the same time.

"_He_ started it!"

"_She_ started it!"

"I don't care _who_ started it," the producer growled, using one hand to point a meaty index finger at Gilbert. "_You_," he then pointed to Matthew and Lovino, "You, and you shouldn't even be here on the girls' hall."

Across from him Gilbert's eyes narrowed and he mumbled, "I didn't hear you say anything about not going onto the girls' floor-"

"If you had _followed me _like you were _supposed_ to do," the large man spoke up, "Then you would have known to stay on your own gender's hall." He glared at the three boys standing around and threw his arm back toward the direction of where he and the group had came from. "Get on your _own hall. _All of you!" The short-tempered producer turned and yelled at the people who were behind him and they all jumped at the sudden outburst and scattered. Alfred's obnoxious laughter could be heard as he made his way back upstairs to the boys' hall.

Feliciana decided that now would be a good time to ask her question. "Mr. Logan, Sir?" The producer gave a rather annoyed sigh and looked at her. "Yes, Feliciana?" he droned out.

"So since this_ is_ a television show where the girls and guys trick each other, since me and my sister-"

Lovina mouthed, "_Keep me out of this!_"

"Fooled those guys into running up here, thinking we were in trouble...does that count?"

"No! No it doesn't! The cameras aren't even set up, you _heard_ me say that!" Mr. Logan stormed out of the room, shaking his head and mumbling something about, "Damn kids," underneath his breath.

Matthew and Lovino exchanged looks and Gilbert only sneered, mimicking the large man's words as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets and walked out of the room.

"Um, Feliciana?" Matthew started. The brunette turned her attention to him, jumped off the bed and walked closer. "Yeees?" she asked, crossing over the invisible "personal space" boundary Matthew had set for himself. He leaned backwards. "C-can you, like...not scream anymore? I mean, unless you _have_ to. I-I mean only when it's needed? Please?" Lovino face-palmed at the blond's stupid requests and Matthew felt like doing the exact same.

"Mmm...Okay!" Feliciana chirped and went back over to her twin. "You wanna finish unpacking and setting up the room, Lovina?"

"Like I really have a choice," was the other girl's answer. She rolled her eyes at her sister's jolliness and they both took one of their bags that hadn't been opened yet and began unloading their things.

* * *

By the time he and Lovino had gotten the luggage upstairs, Matthew had found his room, unloaded his things, and was lying on his neatly-made bed, wondering when Mr. Logan was going to give further instructions. As he lay there looking up at the celling, the blond's eyes were slowly attracted to the football his brother was tossing up into the air as he lay on his own bed, headphones over his ears. Loud rock music blasted from the iPod at Alfred's side and the boy was nodding his head to the beat of the music.

Matthew could not see how every single person he and his brother met thought that they were related by blood; they didn't look a thing like each other -save for the blond hair and the same complexion, and the shared birthdays. Oh, and they _had_ to wear their glasses to see an inch in front of them. They were even different in personality. Correction, they had _very_ different personalities; while Matthew was the more calm, cool, and collect type of guy who only really got hyped up at hockey games, Alfred was more outgoing and athletic. He was also the guy who screamed like a little girl at horror movies and cried during the sad parts of romances. What Matthew lacked in the outspoken department, he made up with in being quite friendly and caring. Alfred was not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was strong and -in his brother's eyes- a lot more fun to be around. Maybe it was just that he was the life of the party all the time. Matthew shrugged it off and went back to looking at the ceiling. His thoughts drifted back to his early life when he still lived in Montréal, the life he had before he was adopted by the Jones family. Up until he was ten, Matthew lived in an orphanage. A few months after he was adopted, he and his new family moved back down to New York where Matthew was enrolled in the same school Alfred was attending; he stayed following in his brother's footsteps until his freshman year in high school when he got out of his shell and started venturing out on his own a bit more.

A knock at the door drew Matthew's attention to it and he sat up to be greeted with the sight of Lovino standing in the doorway. "Knock, knock," the Italian student said and then pointed his thumb toward the stairs. "Mr. Logan says its time for dinner." He brought up his hand and started counting off on his fingers as he said, "They've got baked potatoes, meatloaf, baked beans, hamburgers-"

Alfred shot up from his bed and threw his headphones off. "Hamburgers?!" he shouted, causing both Lovino and Matthew to cringe at the outburst. Alfred leaped off his bed and flew to the door, grabbing Lovino by the shoulders and eagerly exclaimed, "Dude, I'm _starving_! Where's the food?"

"Downstairs in the kitchen, idiota! Now get off me!"

Alfred did as he was ordered and quickly walked out the door; he turned to face his brother and Lovino and said, "C'mon, Maxwell, let's go grab something to eat, man!" while jogging backwards. Matthew opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was that slipped out of his mouth turned into a harsh scream of "No-!" His eyes went wide behind his thin-framed glasses and his hand reached out when Alfred let out a startled yelp as his foot slipped off the top step and his body went down the first flight of stairs. While the Italian student was busy laughing his ass off, Matthew was thrown into full-fledged panic mod and he ran over to the stairs, hands grasping the railing and he watched his brother's body flip itself head over hells as he landed on the deck that separated the first flight from the second. "Alfred!"

"I'm fine, bro!" he called back. Alfred sat himself upright and in a laughing voice, he added, "Whoo! What a trip!" and flashed his brother an "I'm OK" smile along with two thumbs up. The purple-eyed teenager let out a long sigh. "I wish you'd be more _careful," _he muttered before going down to help Alfred to his feet.

* * *

At dinner, there were a few more foods offered than what Lovino had stated, but Alfred only at the hamburgers. Matthew was seated at his spot in the immensely long table, his plate of food nearly untouched. He idly rolled the peas around with his fork as he silently watched everyone else talk and eat; Mr. Logan was nowhere to be found and Matthew thought that the produce was doing some producer stuff outside of the Candle House, like talking to the tech crew and making sure the cameras were set up right. He recognized most of the contestants' faces from his high school while others were entirely new to him. There was his brother Alfred, of course, Gilbert Beilschmidt and his brother Ludwig, the Vargas twins Lovino and Feliciano, Antonio Carriedo, Francis Bonnefoy, Elizabeta Héderváry, and Lovina and Feliciana Vargas. Matthew hadn't been introduced to many of the others, but he could match a few of their faces with names: there was Arthur Kirkland, Carlos Machado, Xiao Mei, Erika Zwingil -the youngest of all of the contestants- and a very kind woman named Iryna Chernenko. Taking in a mouthful of peas, Matthew realized that neither Laura, her brother, nor Vladimir were at dinner. This set off a red flag in the Canadian's mind; was...Laura with _Vladimir_?

'_No. No, Matthew, don't go jumping to conclusions. Her brother seems like the kind of guy who'd keep a close eye on her,_' he thought, recalling how he had seen Govert react earlier that day. '_I'm sure she's just doing...something_.' That was when Matthew noticed someone take a seat a few chairs down from him; he looked up and nearly dropped his jaw when he saw that it was Govert. His mind really started jumping to conclusions then.

A few minutes later, both Laura and Vladimir came walking into the kitchen at the same time and Matthew felt that his worst fears had came true. All eyes were on the duo as the entered; Laura had that same cheery smile on her face as she did when Matthew first met her, and Vladimir had his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans. Even though Laura didn't seem bothered by twenty-seven eyes watching her (Alfred was still too busy stuffing his face with burgers to pay them any attention), Vladimir's red eyes looked tired and were full of anxiety. Someone cleared their throat and Matthew groaned, knowing _exactly_ who was about to say something.

"So, uh...what took you guys so long to come down for dinner?" Gilbert asked. He leaned back in his chair to get a better view of the two teens, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Vlad? Laura? C'mon, you guys can tell me."

The Belgian student had stopped on her way to her seat and she made a face at Gilbert. She knew that he would keep pestering her until she either gave an outburst or told him why she showed up late. "Why do you want to know?"

"'Cause I'm curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Gilbert took the time to look himself over then he turned back to Laura and said, "Meh. I'm still here. So tell me. Where were you?"

"Well, if you really are _that_ desperate to get your nose all into someone else's business," she started, rolling her eyes at the albino, who began to smile. "I was still rearranging my room."

Gilbert raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Oh, that's it?" and then turned back to Vladimir. The exchange student had switched out his standing position for one where he was lying against the door frame to the kitchen. "Well what about you, _Dracula_? Where were you at?" Vladimir narrowed his eyes at Gilbert when he addressed him by that particular name but shrugged Gilbert's question off. "I went outside to take a smoke." And with that he turned back around and started heading toward the stairs but Gilbert stopped him by saying, "Hey, hey. Aren't you going to stay and eat something?"

The exchange student stopped dead in his tracks and hesitantly peeked over his shoulder. He idly scratched his arm. "I-I'm not hungry." His voice was rushed, impatient, and cracked. All Gilbert did was snicker as everyone else turned back to their plates; some of the contestants got up and left the kitchen and Ludwig put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Gilbert, don't," Matthew heard him whisper and he bit his lip when Gilbert brushed him off. The albino sat his chair back into this original position and he braced himself with his right hand flat on the table's surface while he used the left to point an accusing finger at Vladimir's back. "So it _is_ blood you feed on! Ha! I -the awesome Gilbert- knew it!"

"I'm don't drink blood!" Vladimir barked back and he turned to fully face the kitchen. "I don't know why everyone at school's saying that, but I would like all of you to just stop it! It's been eight months since that rumor's been floating around. It's not funny anymore!"

Everyone who stayed at the table began to get anxiety, especially Matthew and Laura. The albino just scoffed. "Whatever you say." He waited until Vladimir's anger had died down a bit before adding, "_Count Dracula_."

"That's it!" The Romanian ran over to the table, pushed the first four chairs out of the way and practically pounced on Gilbert; his hand fisted itself into white hair and before anyone could protest, Vladimir slammed the other's head down into his plate of food. He pulled Gilbert back up and the other man yelled, "What the _fuck_ was that-"

Then he slammed his head down again.

And again.

And again.

All the while Vladimir was screaming out sentences in both his native tongue and English; "What the fuck was that for? You know _damn well_ what the fuck that was for, you bastard! I'm not a vampire! I don't drink blood! I don't burn in the sunlight! I actually _like_ garlic! I am."

_Slam!_

"Not."

_Slam!_

"A _vampire_!"

He crashed Gilbert's face into the table one last time before keeping his head pressed down. There was an inhuman look of rage on Vladimir's twisted face; his red eyes were wide and wild, his lips were pulled back in a snarl that exposed his abnormally long canine teeth, and his brow was creased with deep furrows. Then the exchange student's facial expression suddenly changed and his mouth dropped open. "O-o-o, doamne. Îmi pare rău. Gilbert! I-" Vladimir abruptly ended his sentence when he realized what he'd done and saw the broken pieces of porcelain and...the...blood. He bought his hands up to his face, not knowing whatever else to do with them, and he looked at the faces of everyone else surrounding him. Feliciano had his mouth open, spaghetti falling out and back onto his plate, Antonio and Lovino were just seeing, not believing; Laura had her hands clasped over her mouth, one of Arthur's hands was covering Erika Zwingil's eyes. She was too young, too _innocent_, to see something like this. Govert's mouth remind a straight line but his wide eyes showed the shock. Even Alfred was quiet.

Ludwig's eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open, staring at his older brother's figure as the albino lifted his face from the table, blood smeared around his nose, mouth, and cheeks. Ludwig then slammed his mouth close and turned to Vladimir, a murderous look in his blue eyes. He pushed back from the table and got up and that was when Vladimir noticed that the German's hands were clenched into tight fists. "No. Ludwig, no! I-it was an accident!" The other man kept advancing. And Vladimir kept backing up until he hit the wall beside the doorway; he put his palms onto the cold surface of the wall and frantically searched for the opening to the doorway, all the while he kept his crimson eyes locked onto the physical form of death who was now closing the three-foot space between them. He didn't know which one of the blond's fists were going to strike first, so Vladimir said a silent prayer and leaped to his right and hoped to make it through the doorway. "I didn't mean-! I'm sor-"

The exchange student was shut up by by a violent punch right in the mouth. Ludwig said no words but he smashed his left fist into Vladimir's temple and this sent the other flying back over to the right. He hit the corner, but he was still coherent enough to push himself off the wall and slip past Ludwig, and head for the exit. He sharply veered into the opening and he was halfway down the hall, thinking he was home-free until he was suddenly halted by a hand snatching the collar of his T-shirt. Vladimir was pulled back to Ludwig -_very hard_- and he grasped at his collar as the fabric cut into his throat.

"You slammed my brother's face into a plate. And that's all you can say? That's it? _I'm sorry_?" Ludwig's voice roared over Vladimir's choking and gasping for air. The other teenager grab at one of Ludwig's arms and sunk his nails into the flesh, but that did nothing to faze the German. All he did was make Ludwig throw him down on the ground and walk back to the kitchen. On the floor, Vladimir felt warm tears stinging his eyes and he sat up, taking in large gasps of air as he did so, and he wiped away the tears with his arm and then cupped his mouth. The skin was just now beginning to get puffy and tender. The Romanian took a few more uneven breaths to try and steady himself before lifting his sore body up from the tiled floor of the hallway and shuffling back to the boys' hall of the Candle House.

* * *

Everyone had been called down to have what Mr. Logan called a "very important meeting" two hours after dinner. He said that this was his last night playing Papa Logan to everyone -referencing the chaos he had to straighten out earlier in the day- and that everyone was on their own and the cameras were watching. He told everyone good luck and to play some good tricks, but not before he stated that he had seen the fights go on, since the cameras had been set up and were working _perfectly_- and the fat man said he was "very disappointed in everyone." Especially Gilbert, Ludwig, and Vladimir. Those three had been called down to have a separate meeting with Mr. Logan while everyone else went back to their rooms.

Amazingly, Alfred had gone to sleep early and this left Matthew on his own. He wished he had at least got Laura's phone number so he could call or text her...so he wouldn't be so lonely. But then he thought that she might not want to talk after what happened at dinner. _That_ had affected everyone.

Matthew turned and looked out of his bedside window. It was pretty large, even for a mansion, and the blinds and curtains were open from earlier in the day. Outside, the moon was in its waxing crescent stage and it was dark enough for Matthew to see the stars and constellations without them being blocked out by the thousands of city lights. Before he fell asleep he had told himself to go ahead and close the blinds, but that didn't happen since the blond had fallen asleep without even realizing it. He woke up a few minutes later and quickly pulled the blinds down and drew the curtains before giving the window an uneasy look. Matthew turned on his side so that he was facing Alfred's bed across the room and closed his eyes. The window, the blinds, and the curtains were closed, but Matthew still couldn't shake the feeling that he was somehow being watched; he later reminded himself that there were three cameras set up in his room -two facing his bed and Alfred's and one by the door- and that those cameras were turned on. However, the uneasiness remained and caused part of Matthew's mind begin to think that there was someone intensely staring at him from behind that window. The teenager curled in on himself more, bringing his knees up to his chest in attempt to make himself as small as possible. '_It is just the cameras, Matthew. You are just worked up because all of the drama today; go to sleep already. It's just the cameras._'

* * *

The next morning at breakfast all of the contestants seemed cranky and stressed out. "If I knew this was going to happen," Matthew said after he swallowed some hash browns, "I would have never came here." He grunted when a forceful palm suddenly smacked into his back. He snapped his head up to see that it was no one other then his brother trying to break his shoulder. "Hahaha! What are you talking about, Marius?" The athlete tipped his glass of orange juice to his lips and drank all of it down in one gulp while still patting Matthew's back.

"I hope you have indigestion," Matthew muttered then moved away from Alfred. "What I mean is just _look_ at everybody. They're all so..."

Alfred finished his sentence for him. "Cranky and stressed and a lot of other things."

"Ouais, that. I don't think anyone else got a good sleep last night."

"I did."

All the Canadian did was grunt as a response then he saw Gilbert walk in, a scowl on his face as he shot dangerous glances as Vladimir slowly entered behind him. Ludwig hadn't come down yet and Gilbert took it upon himself to go and sit with Antonio, who was also with his best friend in the whole wide world and his twin brother. Lovino immediately got up from his seat when Gilbert came over and yelled at Feliciano to "get away from the Potato Bastard" before he went to search for another chair to sit in. Soon after that Gilbert and Antonio started up a conversation that had to involve something about last night because the Spaniard pointed to Gilbert's stitches and bandaged nose. Someone else entered the kitchen and both Matthew and Alfred recognized him as Francis Bonnefoy, a college student who had recently began appearing at their school soon after Laura showed up. Obviously, after learning that he and Laura were cousins, Matthew guessed that he was there to pick her and Govert up from school. He never actually talked to Francis, but Alfred had and he reported back to Matthew by saying that Francis was an OK kinda guy, but he flirted with everything that moved, and that he also had a very perverted mind. However the fact that Alfred had said that the Frenchman was "OK" put Matthew's mind at ease; at least he wasn't some sicko stalker kind of guy.

"Hey! Frenchy!" Alfred suddenly called and waved at Francis, who had been making his way over to Gilbert's side of the table. Francis looked up, smiled, and agave an acknowledging wave back just as Gilbert thew Alfred a stoney glare and flipped him off as if to say, "Fuck you. _Stop trying to steal my friends_."

Alfred didn't notice.

* * *

Breakfast was nearly over and the contestants were starting to clean up. It seemed that Gilbert and Antonio had gotten drunken off their asses by the milk they were drinking, but Francis remained "sober". Ludwig came from downstairs with his hair hanging into his eyes, showing everyone that he had just recently gotten up. He didn't bother to say good morning to Gilbert, seeing that he was laughing like a maniac at something only he and Antonio could find funny in their state, and went over to the counter to pick up a glass and pour orange juice into it. When he was over there, Feliciano (despite the mumbles from his brother) went over to say hi and hold a semi-onesided conversation with the German. A few minutes later was when Feliciana showed up; she politely asked the other Italian if she could have a word with Ludwig and Feliciano was happy to oblige. Feliciana had a plate of quiche in one of her hands and she seemed very serious about it. She asked if it "looked right" to Ludwig and he shrugged and nodded. "Yes, I guess it looks alright," he said.

"Okay, but does it _smell_ right?"

"...does it _smell_ right?"

"Si! I just wanted to know because, well, I know you absolutely _love_ to cook-"

Ludwig froze. She had said that out loud. Dammit...

"And you cook a lot of different things, and I wanted to know if this quiche smells like its thoroughly cooked."

He hesitated a bit but the blond leaned over to take a whiff of the baked dish. It..actually did smell right. "Feliciana, I do believe this has been thoroughly cooked-"

The Italian girl's hand became nothing but a blur as she bought the quiche up to meat the German student's face.

Feliciana uttered her mad man giggle as Ludwig sputtered and stumbled back before putting her balled fists up to her mouth to try and stifle the noise. "I-I'm so s-sorry -hehe!- Ludwig! Wait y-you -hehe!- you know what? No, I'm _not_ sorry! This was actually funny! Hehehehe!"

She backed up a few steps as everyone else roared with laughter and Gilbert sneered with, "I can't believe she got you, Lutz!" and went back to laughing and a stream of milk shot out his nose. Embarrassed, the albino quickly bought his hands up to cover his broken nose a little too hard and grunted at the impact.

Even Lovina was so proud of her sister for doing _something_ right and they both high-fived each other. "Girls one, Boys none," she sang but uttered a gasp when she was doused with a cupful of milk.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mademoiselle. Did I get your dress all wet?" Francis had stood from his chair and his arm was stretched out. In his hand was an empty glass of milk. He smirked at the now fuming Italian girl.

"Do you know how much this _costed_? Do you have any idea -any idea _at all_- what kind of fabric this is? This was hand-tailored in-!" She cut herself off with a girlish scream as more milk was tossed onto the already stained portion of her blue dress. "Ugh! You. French. _Pig_!" she yelled at Francis, seeing that he had picked up a neighboring glass of milk and was the one who threw it onto her. "You will pay for _that_ and you will pay for _this dress_! Do you hear me?!"

"I do believe I hear you saying, Girls one and Boys _two_," Francis said in a mocking tone as he put his hand up to his ear. "I _am_ hearing correctly?"

Lovina didn't say another word. Instead she barreled past her sister and a still stunned Ludwig toward Francis. Only when she was a few feet from him did the Frenchman turn and run; he pushed an unsuspecting Arthur Kirkland back up to the table when the man with the thick eyebrows was scooting his chair back. Arthur uttered an out of breath gasp when his stomach collided with the edge of the table and he turned to see Francis disappearing around the corner. "You frog!" Again, Arthur tried to get up, but he was pushed back into the table, this time by Lovina as she pursued the Frenchman and picked up the plate of hash browns as she passed by.

Alfred looked around at everyone then picked up his own plate filled with some food -mostly half eaten omelet slices (he took samples of all five kinds of omelets they were offered) and yelled, "Food fight!" before he dumping his plate right onto Matthew's head.

"Alfred! You're supposed to get the other team! The _girls_! Get the _girls_!"

"Oops. Sorry Morgan," was the other's sheepish reply and he quickly dropped his plate to dust the egg dish out of his brother's hair, but he only smeared it in more. Matthew slapped his hand away. "_C'est __Matthieu__!_"

"It is on now!" Gilbert cheered and jumped onto the table. "Let the Battle of the Sexes begin!"

* * *

**A/N**: And here comes the drama train! All aboard! Woo woo!

I kinda just winged this chapter; I didn't really think out how every event was going to fall into place...but, hey, it was still pretty good? Right? (I hope so -_-") This was actually pretty fun to write :3

I know I have Feliciana OOC, but I have always seen her as a hyperactive and kind of scatterbrained character who is always happy-go-lucky...I think I really like her that way.

OK! So in the next chapter expect to see some more of Prussia's broken nose and the whole BBT will be taking the spotlight along with some of the Nyo!talia characters!


End file.
